“I told my wife it was either trike it or park it,” Howard said. “And she said, ‘Trike it.'”

Industry experts told the Times sales of three-wheeled bikes have bolstered the slowing motorcycle industry and opened the roads back up to tens of thousands of riders who thought their motorcycling days were behind them.

“I get ribbed once in a while, people saying I’m an old man,” said David Jenkins, 56, who switched to a trike last month. “I always tell them, when they grow up they should get a real motorcycle, a three-wheeler.”